Armed with Life Insurance License; What to Do Now?

[ruin007]

I have just received my life insurance license in the state of Tennessee, and have been planning to do work with Final Expense, as it seems lucrative, and fairly rewarding. I was trying to get some input from professionals already in the field on what would be the best profession in the life insurance field in order to make a good deal of money and enjoy what you do. If it makes a difference, I have taken my prelicensing for health as well, and plan on getting that license very soon. Any responses would be very appreciated.
Thanks for your time and advice,
Andrew

 

[Josh]

A few questions:

-What were you planning on doing with your license when you got it?
-What do you mean by rewarding?
-What is your lead plan?

To be perfectly honest with you, about once or twice a week we have someone join and ask basically the same question: "I just got licensed, now what?"

The insurance license means almost nothing. I'm still puzzled as to why folks think it's such a big deal when in most states it basically boils down to a week long course and a test you have to do well on. If you're looking to make a lot of money enjoying what you're doing then this might be a good career for you, but realistically it's going to be a job where you're going to work hard to generate leads, get frustrated, and 90% of the time you're going to be out of it within a year. That doesn't have to be the case, but that's what you're up against. If you want to be in the 10%, you need a much better plan than what you came into this with.

You need to figure out what products and lines of insurance you want to do. You might want to join iliaa.org and spend some quality time going through their trainings and lead generation webinars to get a feel for what you're up against if you're going the independent route.

If you're going the captive route, you're going to be at the mercy of the leads they feel like providing you. Personally I had a great first month in the business with a captive shop, but as time went on they stopped giving me leads and when the leads dried up I moved on.

Another thing you'll need to do well in this is a solid trainer that will actually run appointments with you or at least let you tag along for their appointments. Life insurance is a product that people don't usually just want (unless they have cancer or are otherwise nearly dead), it's a product that they need to be educated on. If you just got started, you're going to have a hard time instilling that confidence in them.

 

[susang]

Read the Final Expense forum, and the other forums here. There is a lot of helpful information here.
Good luck to you!


.

 

[sellinmachine]

Josh's suggestion to find a mentor is an exceptionally good one. It is not only good for you but the mentor. I was always at the top of my game when training. So, offer yourself as a trainee to someone that you both can profit, but that said some of the best do not train well. As with most things it has to be a 2-way street.

 

[ruin007]

Appreciate the responses so far. I have actually been lurking on the final expense forum since early November trying to soak up all the information I could. I spoke to a few members of that board and they have all been very helpful and I have a good idea that it is what I want to do, and feel that I will have a good support system while I begin as a captive agent.
However, I would like to see other opinions on other ways to make good money with a life insurance license. I have been so focused on the Final Expense aspect, that I feel I may be missing some other opportunities out there.
That is what I am asking here; all my research has been in final expense, but is there another path that is more lucrative? Rewarding is in the eye of the beholder, so I won't bother with that question, but dollar wise, are there any other paths for a newbie to take with great earning potential? Thank you.
Andy

 

[WinoBlues]

Appreciate the responses so far. I have actually been lurking on the final expense forum since early November trying to soak up all the information I could. I spoke to a few members of that board and they have all been very helpful and I have a good idea that it is what I want to do, and feel that I will have a good support system while I begin as a captive agent.
However, I would like to see other opinions on other ways to make good money with a life insurance license. I have been so focused on the Final Expense aspect, that I feel I may be missing some other opportunities out there.
That is what I am asking here; all my research has been in final expense, but is there another path that is more lucrative? Rewarding is in the eye of the beholder, so I won't bother with that question, but dollar wise, are there any other paths for a newbie to take with great earning potential? Thank you.
Andy

My suggestion is get off the forum and start talking to prospects. Start selling something.

Delete all the recruiter emails you are getting. Throw away all the company/recruiter mail flooding your mail box.

See the people, See the people, See the people.

Edit: Pick three FE companies. Learn them front to back. Sell those for a while before you try to branch out.

 

[Josh]

= Rewarding is in the eye of the beholder, so I won't bother with that question, but dollar wise, are there any other paths for a newbie to take with great earning potential?

That's as good as any other. There are folks that do very well in all lines of insurance. A newbie is lucky to do well in any of them. It all comes down to your marketing plan.

 

[Guest]

Again,

I am amazed someone would spend the money, time, effort to get licensed, and have no direction or clue what the next step is.....

 

[ruin007]

Again,

I am amazed someone would spend the money, time, effort to get licensed, and have no direction or clue what the next step is.....

Thanks for the useful information! As I stated above though, I have been planning for months to enter into the Final Expense part of the business, but was trying to see if anybody else had experience in a field that works better.
Being a brand new agent, I figured this would be the place to go to tell me if Final Expense is a sustainable niche, or if there are much better ways to make a living.

But thanks for your condesention. It makes me feel good knowing that this was a freeflowing forum with experienced agents helping out those that are new.

For those that actually did try to help me, I really do appreciate the time you took to try to provide some direction.
Andy

 

[VolAgent]

Thanks for the useful information! As I stated above though, I have been planning for months to enter into the Final Expense part of the business, but was trying to see if anybody else had experience in a field that works better.
Being a brand new agent, I figured this would be the place to go to tell me if Final Expense is a sustainable niche, or if there are much better ways to make a living.

But thanks for your condesention. It makes me feel good knowing that this was a freeflowing forum with experienced agents helping out those that are new.

For those that actually did try to help me, I really do appreciate the time you took to try to provide some direction.
Andy

Andy, best advice you are going to get.

Mail your license back to Nashville. This isn't for you.

Prove me right or prove me wrong, I don't care. You have already spent over 5 months "planning" and you still don't know what you are going to do. You're going to plan yourself right into a JOB flipping burgers somewhere in town.